Military McKay
by xXxrouxXx
Summary: High-school drop out, Rodney 'Rod-man' McKay, joined the armed forces. Not over-confidant in his skills and slightly fitter than a normal McKay, what happens when he's assigned to go to Atlantis?
1. Rising Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not claim the Stargate franchise...duh!**

**Summary: High-school drop out, Rodney 'Rod-man' McKay, joined the armed forces. Not over-confidant in his skills and slightly fitter than a normal McKay, what happens when he's assigned to go to Atlantis? How will everyone re-act to the havoc this one soldier could wreak? More importantly, how will this affect Atlantis?**

"So, worm-holes, huh?" McKay questioned one of the scientists.

"Yes, but the physics is far beyond your primal understanding. You armed forces peoples are only good for blowing things up."

Rodney tilted his head, "I do like to blow things up."

The man that McKay had been questioning threw his hands in the air and walked off muttering in Czech.

"I didn't know such an innocent scientist knew such bad words." McKay hollered after him.

A soft chuckle came from next to him, "You harassing the scientist's yet again McKay?"

"What?" He laughed along with the other soldier, "its great fun when you get a rise out of them Ford."

A drone zoomed past them, and they locked eyes. "Ah…shit." McKay muttered.

The Lieutenant's both ran to the chair room to see Carson in the chair.

McKay groaned, "Carson, how many times do we tell you not to mess around with the big boy's toys." Having received Carson's gene therapy treatment both Ford and McKay could use the chair, but since they weren't allowed to use it too kill anything, it was pretty much useless to them.

"T'wasn't my fault. Radek made me do it." Caron defended.

"Just turn it off you big baby." Ford said, encouraging yet forceful.

McKay shook his head in amusement; he couldn't give that sort of encouragement.

"How does 'imagine where you are' turn into 'fire a drone'?" Ford asked.

"I don't know, but I wish I'd done it." McKay replied.

Weir ran in with Dr. Jackson trailing behind, "Carson?"

"In the chair." McKay pointed.

Dr. Jackson seemed to tut in disgust at the casual way that McKay had addressed the chair.

"Come on Carson. Just concentrate and turn it off." Ford was encouraging.

McKay rolled his eyes but the room was silent so he held back his teasing. No matter now much he wanted to say roll-over right now to Carson, he would resist.

A look of relief filled Dr. Beckett's features and McKay knew he'd done it, they all slumped with relief in the hope that no-one was dying.

Rodney patted Ford on the shoulder and asked, "Lunch hall?"

Ford nodded, "Yeah, I'm hungry, and from the fact you're shaking I'm guessing you are too…unless you were scared."

"Tease me again and I'll chuck you out in the snow in your underwear." McKay growled.

Ford stood straight, "Uh huh, to the mess hall."

When the two guys arrived in the hall Rodney noticed it was lemon chicken for lunch, he exchanged a look with Ford who just shrugged and said, "Just get the other option I guess."

In the end he ended up with a salad and steak, then a fruit cup and a cup of coffee, all citrus free of course, because as he had loudly explained to the food chefs one day, he was deathly allergic to citrus.

"So, I hear we're trying to get to Atlantis." Ford tried the small talk while they ate.

McKay raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, "I know, sorry."

Suddenly two scientists's bustled in and straight over to the coffee machine. McKay, ever the valiant and proud soldier, eavesdropped.

"And he's still in the chair!"

"Major Sheppard, black mark man, has the ancient gene. That's un-heard of. Such an un-canny coincidence."

"I can't believe it!"

"Weir's offered him a place on the mission."

"NO?"

"Yes, and she's even appealing to O'Neil to get him."

"Why she wants' him on this mis-"

And they were gone again.

McKay turned to Ford, "Do you know who Major Sheppard is?"

Ford nodded then with a mouth still full of food said, "Awedom pido' few pas' da dwone." (Awesome pilot flew past the drone.)

"Hmmm…" McKay stood up to leave.

Ford swallowed down his food in a hurry, "Where ya going?" he asked.

"To check something out. I'll be back later."

McKay weaved his way in and out of the corridor's to the chair room in time to see Sheppard making the map of the solar system come up. It never ceased to amaze him, the beautiful solar system. He could name every planet, star, galaxy you ask it, he knew it. Back in high-school McKay had always dreamed of one day travelling the stars, he sure was smart enough too. He knew more than his teachers, but when his mum had gotten sick with cancer, he'd dropped out to look after her and Jeannie. Now, he wished he hadn't. He'd had to go into the army as his only chance of a job, getting put on the Atlantus Outpost had been a dream come true in his eyes. All the chance to ask questions of the scientists, too learn. He sent money to Jeannie every now and again to keep her going with her children, and did almost nothing. If only he had more friends, then his life would be complete. Carson, Ford and a few military pals were the extent of his comrades.

"Whoa…" He muttered.

Radek turned to look at him, "Whoa indeed, this technology seems to re-act to John naturally."

Rodney felt a gush of envy fill him, "Cool." He muttered, not trusting himself to say anything else.

The major stood up from the chair, "Join us." Weir blurted out.

"Or what? You'll eat me?"

"No, join us in the search for our lost city." Weir was almost pleading.

McKay chuckled.

"Something funny?" O'Neil asked.

McKay straightened, "No sir."

"Are you positive? You seem to be having a lot of fun over there."

"Just thought of a joke sir." McKay replied.

Major Sheppard walked over, "Bet it was a good joke then Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. Very funny, sir."

"Haha." The Major turned to Jack, "I like this guy." He put his hand out, "Name's John, but you can call me Sheppard."

"McKay. Welcome to the Atlantus Base." He said taking Sheppard's hand.

"No-ones welcomed me yet, but they all seem pretty eager for me to stay. Between you and me, is it worth it?" Sheppard asked.

McKay shrugged, "I think I would have a biased opinion, sir."

"So…yes or no?" Sheppard drawled.

"To be honest, yes. It's crazy here; the scientists are all scatter brained, and then they want you to turn things on to make sure they themselves don't blow up. The food is rubbish. Its cold and you'll be looked down upon for being military in a civilian base. It's absolutely wonderful. Ford explains the feeling better than I do." McKay said.

Sheppard seemed to drink it in, "Well, I'll be thinking about it, but I'm not sure yet." And then he walked off.

The next time McKay saw the Major a lot had happened.

They'd been told they were going to Atlantis for starters, to say goodbye to family and chose one personal item. McKay chose an old physics journal from when he was a teen. One of the presents his mum had given him for Christmas. There had also been a food fight in the mess hall, started by Ford, but no-one was mentioning it.

"Thought you said you weren't sure." McKay said, sneaking up behind Sheppard.

"Flipped a coin." Sheppard shrugged.

McKay nodded. "Heard you're a pilot." He said.

"Yeah," Sheppard confirmed, "I'm a pilot with a shady record."

"Ah, records don't bother me, as long as you get the job done." McKay said.

Sheppard cocked his head slightly, "Well, that's a first." He looked to see Sumner glaring at them, "He doesn't like me much does he?"

"He doesn't like me either, welcome to the club." Both men chuckled then turned to pay attention to the speech Weir was giving.

"What's it feel like?" John asked before they were about to go through the 'gate.

Ford's face went deathly serious, "Hurt's like hell sir."

McKay cracked a smile and shook his head when Ford smiled and jumped through the gate shouting 'WooHoo'. When the Major gave him a puzzled look he shrugged and followed after Ford in a calmer fashion.

Once he had stepped through the 'gate, the sight he saw was too amazing for words so instead of waiting for his brain to catch up he pulled his gun closer and started securing the area like his fellow service men.

"Any alien life-forms?" Someone asked.

McKay shook his head with a snort, this place was evidently un-inhabited. The lights' turning on automatically was obviously because the city sensed the gene carriers and was valiantly trying to come alive for them.

Rodney walked up the stairs to what looked like a control room and watched Radek and Peter setting up their laptops. The Major and Dr. Weir had disappeared to look at something and Ford was making sure Carson didn't kill anyone which left himself to keep the scientists in check.

While Radek walked off to get another laptop, Rodney looked at the one of the other laptops that Radek had placed on a panel and frowned at what he saw. The energy levels scared him but not as much as the underwater threat. He called Grodin over.

"Is the city underwater?" McKay asked.

Peter looked at where Rodney was pointing, "Oh…it would appear we are. How could you tell."

McKay dismissed the question waving his hand, "That doesn't matter." He left the laptop and walked to a large screen towards the centre of the room, "This, in reality, should show us a map of Atlantis right?"

The British man just nodded, "Ummm…yeah…but neither Radek nor I have the gene so-"

The screen sprang to life with a single thought from McKay.

"I don't think that's…Atlantis is huge!" Peter said.

McKay nodded, "And flooded…look at the red bits."

The scientist seemed sceptical, "I'm sure that's not-"

"The shield is falling/failing because we are using too much power…and we are still searching…" He turned to Grodin, "Tell Radek now."

He ran to the laptop and looked to the energy levels, they were falling rapidly and at the rate they were losing energy, it would all be consumed in an hour. He ran a simulation on the laptop, if they stopped searching and withdrew all personal to the 'gate room that would not take the energy too much and they would last a few extra days, but again, the shield _was_ failing.

McKay stood there for a few minutes, continuously thinking over different situations and solutions' when…

"Step away and let the professionals work soldier." Came a drawling voice from his right.

McKay's head snapped up to see a senior officer, Major Sheppard standing there, he stepped away reluctantly, "Sorry sir, I just wanted a look-see. I have the curiosity of a cat."

"So, what have you found?" Dr. Weir asked Radek, ignoring McKay and Sheppard's interactions.

"Well the city is submerged. Sea water does cover it. Energy levels drop, shields fail, city flood…we die." Radek replied simply.

From the room of vacant expressions, excusing possibly Sheppard's and defiantly McKay's, Grodin could sense the need for more information so continued, "We have enough energy to last a little while, but in the mean time some of the Ancient tech works with good old fashioned push buttons so, we have discovered this." He pressed a button on the console; a cloudy shield appeared in front of the Stargate, "It is a shield that covers the 'gate, much like the iris at Stargate Command. Anyone controlling the gate doesn't need the gene." The muttered, 'Thank god.' Was only heard by the people not obsessed with the gate, namely McKay and Ford who exchanged a look with a half smile.

McKay hissed after a minute deciding that they had marvelled long enough, "Using power, using power, we are losing power!" He muttered.

Sheppard glared at him, but McKay's sense of self-preservation kept him muttering about power until Grodin got the hint.

"Oh…sorry." He said, turning it off.

"At least we don't have to deal with any unwanted guests." Weir said.

Carson ran in, "I didn't do it, please say I didn't do it! Please tell me it's not my fault."

"You didn't do it; it's not your fault." Rodney deadpanned, then he continued, "Okay, so the only thing that is keeping us alive is that shield, it's holding back the water, but it has already failed in some areas."

"So, give me the bottom line." Sumner said, looking at both Grodin and Zelenka, and slightly surprised when McKay answered.

"From what we've been able to ascertain, the city is powered by three Zero Point Modules. Two are entirely depleted and the third is reaching maximum entropy. When it does, it'll die too and nothing can reverse that. The force field holding back the ocean has collapsed to its minimum sustainable levels. Look, you can see," McKay thought the screen on and pointed to the places he had shown Grodin earlier,

"Here, and here, where the shield's already failed and the city's flooded. It could have happened years ago. This section is likely more protected because of the Stargate."  
>"What if it fails completely?" Sheppard inquired.<p>

Rodney rolled his eyes, "It's a matter of when not it. But it floods and we die any more stupid questions." Then he seemed to notice who he was talking to and added a hesitant, "…sir."

The scientists and Weir glared at Rodney but Sheppard just smirked at him.

Weir then turned to Radek for confirmation, "Is he correct?"

Radek nodded, "Yes. McKay is good at Science and was helpful on base, I believe him right. But next time, run theory by me or Peter."

"Okay." Weir said turning to Sumner, "You need to call of the searches, stop searching the city immediately."

The Colonel tapped his radio and demanded all security teams stop searching and fall back to the gate room.

"It won't be enough." Both Radek and Rodney said at the same time.

"How long do we have then?" Dr. Weir demanded.

Grodin decided to interject, "Rodney and I had this conversation, at the rate we are using now, an hour. However, if we limit power expenditure we can increase this by a few more hours, possibly even days, but I need to do proper equations to tell for sure."

"What about our own generators? Can't they keep us going?" Beckett asked innocently.

Rodney shook his head as Radek said, "Not yet compatible, need better equations and more time. We do not have time."

"So… it's Zee-P-Ms or nothing then." Weir sighed.

Sumner turned and said to Dr. Weir sarcastically, "Well now, how do we find them if we can't do search the city?"

"Sir, if I can interject, if there were more here we'd be able to detect them because of the amount of energy they make. You don't need to search the city, we need out of the city." McKay mumbled.

"Can we use the Stargate?" Sumner asked.

"Not back to Earth, if that is what you're thinking." Grodin said.

Sheppard shook his head, "No, not back to Earth, to-"

McKay's face lit up, "Brilliant idea Major! Gating to somewhere in this galaxy should be relatively easy. We can access the Stargate control system and a library of known gate addresses in the database."

Weir nodded, "Okay, Colonel, please assemble a team. We need a safe harbour, or another power source. Preferably a power source but an evacuation site would be helpful."

Sumner turned to Ford, "Gather teams one and two, gear up because we're going on a field trip."

Weir looked at Sumner and said, "Take Major Sheppard with you, I want him to go along."

"Yes ma'am." Both The Colonel and the Major said and headed to the gate room.

Dr. Weir turned to look at Radek, "Okay, pick an address and start dialling; I want that team out now."

Radek reached down and pushed one of the glass panels on the D.H.D, the lights all ran as the Stargate circled, the first chevron light up and Radek said, "Chevron one encoded."

Rodney burst out laughing as Weir turned to look at Radek with an eyebrow raised, "Radek,"

Radek blushed, "Oh yes, that routine is not deemed necessary." He continued to push the buttons and the remaining chevrons lit up.

"Okay, send in the M.A.L.P." Rodney said to Grodin.

The M.A.L.P crawled through the gate, "Waiting on telemetry." McKay muttered looking at the laptop, "Radio signal established…telemetry received. Okay so the M.A.L.P reads full visibility and no immediate signs of activity but…its pitch black out there. The teams will need night vision goggles."

"Good, that's good." Weir muttered.

Grodin and Radek ran of to explain to the teams the situations.

McKay turned to Weir, "Excuse me, ma'am. If you do not mind me asking, but why didn't you send me to go on the search teams?"

"Because Rodney, I need you to keep the scientist's in check. I can't send all my best people out on a scavenger hunt without some staying behind." She explained.

"So, with all due respect, wouldn't it be better to keep Sheppard here. He shows an inkling of intelligence. Actually he appears quite smart, quite like yourself…not that I mean anything by that or anything…Dr. Weir."

She laughed, "Perhaps you're right and I should have kept John here, but can he understand more that primary Physics? Does he have an IQ of over 170 and the ability to understand computer coding and the language of the Ancients? Because Rodney, there is a reason I chose who I chose. Self taught military genii don't just end up in top secret government projects by chance." She explained, "Oh, and please, call me Elizabeth! None of this silly Dr Weir or ma'am nonsense please."

McKay nodded and turned back to the computer.

Later, the teams walked in fully geared up, with night vision goggles all plastered to their foreheads.

Elizabeth nodded, "Good luck."

"Let's move out!" Sumner shouted and the teams put their goggles over their eyes and disappeared through the gate.

Sheppard turned and waved before following the other teams.

"So…"McKay said turning to Elizabeth.

"So…to work I guess…" She muttered.

McKay nodded, "Yeah…watching scientists. Did you really mean what you said earlier?"

Elizabeth nodded, "I have no reason to lie to you. I know your record; I know your personal item. I meant what I said."

McKay blushed at the mentioning of his physics journal but beamed at her, "Well, I'll go stop scientists from blowing us up then"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes; she knew the Rodney McKay was capable of so much more than he showed most of the time. She just hoped her compliment didn't go to his head.

McKay spent hours and hours correcting incorrect equations and being an all round genius. Kavanaugh drove him to destructions but scientists like Miko and Grodin gave him reasons to be happy. Zelenka was happy for McKay's help so he continued helping…to the annoyance of a few different scientists that had grown to dislike and hate him in the last few hours.

"Rodney, help me report to Dr. Weir our findings." Peter asked.

McKay nodded, "Sure, but she's not going to like the news."

McKay was right.

"The shield has held back the ocean for centuries!" She said exasperated. "We even stopped searching!"

Grodin was on his last legs so McKay took over, "Yes, it has, and probably would have for many more years; however, because of us being here many dormant systems have been reactivated to keep us alive. Just us being in this room is draining power. The damage was done the minute we walked through that Stargate."

"We need to evacuate when Colonel Sumner reports back that it is safe," Grodin muttered,

"Abandon the city?" Elizabeth was almost hysterical about the poor city.

A groaning noise came from around them and the city rumbled.

McKay nodded, "Yes, the sooner we leave, the longer that shield holds."

The Stargate came to life and McKay hesitantly put on the shield. He tapped his radio, "This is McKay, if that is a friendly, please stat now, over."

"_Dear god!_! Someone mumbled, "_Yeah, this is Ford._"

"Heya buddy, any particular reason you're calling. I hear long distance calls are power draining and they want to cut the connection." McKay mumbled to Ford.

Ford laughed, "_Yeah, well cut the connection and I can't tell you that we found a possible evacuation site. There are some monsters the people are describing, called Wrath or Wraith or something I don't know. Sumner says it might be what scared the Ancients. Anyway, we're cool here for now._"

"Okay, well…umm…going to try and relay my inner Dr. Weir now and say, stay safe? Is that right?"

Ford exaggerated a sigh, "_It will do. Bye McKay._"

McKay spent ages with the scientists, running around being lackey smart and spreading ideas and also reporting to Weir and surprisingly have other soldiers' come to him about things and with reports. The teams missed there next check in though.

"Dammit." McKay muttered to himself while starring at the gate as if willing the team to come back, "What's gone wrong?"

**So yeah, I don't know if this has ever been written before but I felt like writing it. You'll probably get Part 2 of The Rising but it took me a month to write this one chapter so no promises. I'm gonna focus on Oceanus' Curse a PJATO fic and my other Stargate one, The English Canadian WTGIRL? S yeah, review if I should continue.**

**xXxrouxXx**


	2. Rising Part 2

**Author's Note: So, I feel I have matured a lot in the past few months (yeah right) but I am going to start doing this updating lark properly, on this story only I am going to try and update every month…or maybe two weeks, (probably won't though) although that will be hard, I do admit. Sorry for the long awaited update, I did NaNoWriMo, and then I lost all resolve to continue with any of my fanfiction stories, also I have been very ill…so that also stopped me from updating. In each update I shall have the episode it is based on as the title and there shall be lines/whole dialogues and the science taken from those episodes. The reason updates shall be sparse as each chapter takes about two hours (spread over the time of the week) to write…as I need to make sure they are fairly close to cannon, sorry about that. Anyway, you're probably fed up with my rambling. I shall continue.**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis, but neither do you, so I can get by xD<strong>

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><p><strong>Rising Part 2<strong>

"We have to go looking for them. If we don't we'll be stuck here with me leading the soldiers…do you really want that?" McKay demanded.

Elizabeth processed this, "It's better than nothing. I'm not risking the rest of this cities protection until we know why they are not returning."

"Fine, walk with me?" Elizabeth asked.

McKay nodded, and he stopped by a window, Elizabeth looked at McKay in confusion. McKay smirked and said, "Wait for it." While he was pressing buttons on his laptop.

"What am I looking for?"

As she said it a small explosion happened on the distance of the city, bubbles flew out of it,

"Was that what I think it was?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.

McKay nodded, "Yes, the force field is failing. If what Radek told me is correct, well we don't have much time."

"Let's get to the control room." Elizabeth said and they walked at a fast pace, as they entered the control room she asked immediately, "How we doing?"

Radek looked at her from his place at the main console with a sceptical look, as if to say 'are you really asking that question?'

She sighed loudly, "If we can just buy more time, maybe-"

"City is sacrificing. We can _not _gain more time." Radek all but screamed.

McKay winced, "Look, Elizabeth, if we leave now we can possibly save the city. We can come back, later, with a power source maybe? Right now, my main concern is keeping the people and citizens on this base alive."

"We found the city of the Ancients though Rodney, nobodies been here for years, everything is working," Rodney almost scoffed at that, but kept his mouth shut as Elizabeth continued, "And we're just going to walk away from it?"

"To save city, we ourselves must make sacrifices'." Radek informed them.

McKay rolled his eyes, "Yeah, thanks for the spiritual insight there Radek." He said sarcastically, he then tapped his radio, "Calling all military personnel, please report to the gate room, prepare yourselves for immediate evacuation."

"You can't do that." Elizabeth said, sounding insulted.

"I can and I have. Look Elizabeth, the safety of the people in this city is in jeopardy. To save them, and the city we need to leave."

"Who are we saving the city for? As far as Earth knows, we're dead." Elizabeth countered.

Rodney sighed, "We will be back."

"We don't even know if the evacuation site is safe! We have no way of knowing what's out there!"

"That's a chance I'll have to take." Rodney said morbidly.

Radek coughed to make his presence known, "We must leave now. Fighting can wait. People are more important."

Rodney turned and looked directly at Elizabeth, straight into her eyes, "He's right you know. My people will be ready to leave, what about yours?"

Elizabeth sighed in defeat and picked up her radio, "Attention all personnel, this is Weir. The city is unable to support our power needs." Suddenly the base began to shake and Elizabeth all but shouted down the phone, "Stand by for immediate evacuation!" She turned around suddenly, "Oh, dear god, don't stand there." She screamed at the unsuspecting scientists, "Dial the gate!"

Peter jumped to the dialling system and started punching in symbols when suddenly the Gate started to dial itself. "We've got an incoming wormhole!" Peter yelled to them, "Its Lieutenant Ford's identification code."

McKay looked at Weir, and nodded. "Let them in." She demanded.

The shield dropped and McKay and Elizabeth ran down the stairs to the gate as Sheppard came through leading, what (in McKay's eyes) looked to be a group of medieval villagers.

"Everybody, step away from the gate, watch out for the puddle."

"Sheppard!" McKay called to the elder man, "What's going on?"

John didn't seem to register McKay's call, because he continued herding the villagers.

"Major Sheppard? Who are these people?" Elizabeth asked.

Suddenly the base started to shake again, violent tremors' ripping through the base, causing people to fall over.

"These are survivors from the settlement. These things attacked and took our men. Colonel Sumner with them. What's going on here?"

"The base is unsteady and losing power. We are in now condition to help anyone right now."

John sighed, "Yeah, well I see that, but what the hell is going on?" He turned to McKay, "You know a lot, report."

McKay rolled his eyes, "I'm glad you finally noticed that my brain capacity is large enough to be branded 'know a lot'." A glare from Elizabeth shut him up, "Oh, um, right. The shield is about to fail and the ocean will come crashing in on us, you know, and we're going to die, so we are about to abandon the city, to avoid imminent death."

"Going back to that place would be a really really bad idea."

"Yes, well thanks for that nugget of information, now, do you have a better place to go? Because quite frankly I prefer being attacked with possibility for survival to _drowning_." McKay snapped.

Sheppard turned to the villagers, and then lent down, "Jinto, you know that big dialling thingy with the symbols, I need you to give me an address for it. You know any?"

Jinto nodded, his hair flopping everywhere, "I know many, Teyla makes us memorize many before we are allowed to leave the settlement for longer than a few nights."

John smiled and grabbed Jinto's arm, "Come on then, you're going to help us." And then he pulled Jinto towards the stairs.

"But he is just a boy!" Elizabeth said, exasperated.

"I am Jinto." He told her as he zoomed past her.

Elizabeth sighed as Sheppard said, "Yes, she pleased to meet you too."

Elizabeth threw her hands in the air and followed after them.

McKay stood behind her, "Never underestimate kids Elizabeth. Sometimes they are the only ones that can come through for you."

"Shield is collapsing!" Radek called.

Suddenly a blinding white light came in from outside, and the base started to shake again. Everyone fell to the floor, and people had to roll over to avoid being crushed by the crates. McKay leapt to push Elizabeth down before she was crushed by a crate, just narrowly avoiding it.

"What's happening?" Jinto called out.

"I don't know!" Sheppard replied.

The base continued to shake and Peter scrambled to his feet, "I'm dialling an address!" He shouted.

"No wait!" Elizabeth called.

Rodney blinked, was she feeling the same sensation as he was, or was he just being hopeful? No, impossible? "She's right!" He shouted, almost triumphantly.

"Why ever not?" Peter asked affronted.

Sheppard laughed, "Peter, can't you tell? We are moving?"

"We are?" Peter asked feeling disconcerted.

Suddenly the base was hit with a jolt as they broke the surface, and sunlight pored through the windows. The shock waves of breaking the surface caused the city to bob on the ocean for a few minutes, and then it settled.

McKay sat there for a few moments, until he realized what sort of position he was in. When the shield had collapsed, he had jumped to push Elizabeth down to keep her safe and was now lying on top of her. He gave a disgruntled cough and quickly stood up. "Sorry about that, ma'am." McKay muttered, offering a hand to help her up.

She blush slightly, "Well, you were saving my life, I think it can be overlooked."

"Well, thank you ma'am." Rodney replied happily.

"You're back to the 'ma'am' thing again." Elizabeth told him.

Rodney rolled his eyes, "You know you like it."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and then looked over McKay's shoulder at the window. McKay turned around and saw what she was looking at. The patterned glass window still had water running down it, and the sun shining through made rainbow affects.

"Wow…" She muttered.

He did have to admit it did look spectacular. Everyone started to crowd around the window looking happy and staring in awe at the beautiful horizon.

"We're on the surface." Ford said, laughing.

McKay rolled his eyes, _well done Einstein, _he thought. He turned to Elizabeth, "Looks like you just got your extra time."

Elizabeth scoffed, "All I was hoping for was a day, and we just got more then that." She narrowed her eyes, "So let's not waste it."

McKay nodded and turned to Ford, "You can take organising people, and I'll stalk the scientists and Weir."

Ford's face fell, "Why do you get to stalk the boss lady?" he whined.

"Because _I_ have been stalking her for the past few hours, days whatever, and I am not giving up my job." McKay said, sticking his tongue out.

John laughed, "I hope no one is stalking anyone because that would just be weird, you'd better hurry up with the organisation Ford, and we don't want people running off so that you're left on your own to carry the crates."

"Yes, sir." Ford said, snapping his hand to attention and then running to find some people to help with the crates.

"Um…Major, we do want people running off. Seeing him carrying the crates alone would be hilarious." McKay told him.

Sheppard laughed, "That's evil. Anyway, he'd probably force us to help if he didn't have anyone."

McKay absorbed that information, "I see your point." He said with a tilt of the head.

Sheppard nodded, "I knew someone would see it my way, anyway, come to find the boss?"

"Yeah, sure." McKay nodded, and they walked up the remaining steps to the control room. "Yo, Radek, status report?"

Radek looked up, "Oh, Rod-man, not good."

"What's not good?" Elizabeth asked, almost appearing out of nowhere.

"The Zero Point Module is depleted. We have limited power with naqahdah generators. Life support works but we have air from this planet."

"It's breathable?" McKay enquired.

Radek nodded, "Just, but we are uninformed of any pathogens and allergens."

"Can we get a shield for defensive purposes?" Sheppard asked.

Radek shook his head and Rodney scoffed, "Did you not just listen? Limited power _with_ our own generators. There is no chance for shields."

"But we're just-"

"Floating targets? Sitting ducks? Target practice?" McKay offered helpfully and Sheppard scowled, "Look, I hate sitting on the surface as well without protection, but we have no choice."

Sheppard sighed, "I don't even care about that right now, I just need my people back, any luck?"

Radek shook his head, "No."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow, "Any elaboration?"

Peter sighed and filled in the blanks, "Six symbols isn't much help. We have hundreds and hundreds of permutations to deal with."

Sheppard opened his mouth to reply but McKay beat him to it, "Seven hundred and twenty, we know. Now get us the code for the gate."

Sheppard smirked at McKay, "How did you know that?"

McKay rolled his eyes, "Because I 'know a lot'. Take away the co-ordinates that you can't get a lock on and that is where they are."

"Major, we need to talk." Elizabeth said, leading Sheppard away.

Sheppard looked desperately at McKay who shrugged and turned to Radek, "Right, let's get this party started." He muttered as he stole a laptop and started doing equations.

"Why don't you just ask for a laptop?" Peter said, slightly disgruntled.

"Because that would be too nice of me." McKay muttered, irked that someone had interrupted him mid equation, "How about you get me one for my birthday though? I'm gonna need one soon."

"Only if you promise not to play checkers or solitaire all the time." Peter joked.

McKay held his hands up in defence, "I'm not making any promises here."

"You can have a laptop if you make it yourself then." Peter told him.

McKay raised an eyebrow, "Make a laptop myself? I'm not against it, I've done it before, but last I checked, 'spare laptop parts' weren't on my list of things to bring."

"Some of the laptops broke when we were being thrown about the base, but some parts are salvageable." Peter informed him.

McKay nodded, "I might just take you up on that."

"Got it!" Radek said, "Co-ordinates locked!"

That's when Sheppard stormed in, "Give me some freaking great news, or I will shot someone."

McKay leapt from his seat and ran down the stairs to prepare a M.A.L.P for gate travel, just as the puddle formed.

He sent it through, once the shield was lowered and ran back up just in time for Peter to smile at him, "Receiving visual telemetry." He informed them.

McKay stood next to Sheppard, "What did she want?" He asked pointing at Elizabeth.

John shook his head, and gave McKay a look that said, 'Tell ya later."

"I can't see anything." Weir moaned while glaring at the screen.

"Just be glad you're not there, there are no atmospheric readings whatsoever." McKay told Weir.

Sheppard was watching the screen keenly, "Wait what was that."

McKay nodded; he had seen it to, something flashed across his screen, "Rotate the camera," he ordered Peter.

McKay jaw dropped as the camera rotated and the Stargate came into view, "Oh great, there goes that M.A.L.P." he commented sarcastically.

"It's in space!" Sheppard exclaimed.

McKay almost felt the need to clap slowly in a patronising way but refrained from doing so, instead said, "Yeah, it's in high orbit around a planet, _on the far side of the galaxy_." He put emphasis on the ending so as to explain what a tight situation they were in.

"You're positive this is the right address?" Weir asked.

"Is only one we got lock on." Radek said.

Weir sighed, "Okay then…shut it down."

The Gate shut down.

"Sheppard…I'm sorry." She then walked away leaving McKay majorly confused, "What was that about?"

"She won't let me save our people because it's too dangerous…and it's not like I can save them if I have no way of getting on the planet." The major managed to hiss out angrily.

McKay smiled smugly, "So, you're telling me, the only thing between you and our people is the fact that there is no breathable air or in fact means to get on the planet?"

John looked at Rodney suspiciously, "What are you planning?"

Rodney smiled, "Why, follow me major."

McKay was bursting with excitement as he led Sheppard to the Ship's bay. He couldn't wait to show the flying obsessed major the space ship's on the base.

He walked up to the only one he had managed to get a response out of and led Sheppard on.

The light's lit up as they had when he had been on previously, as did the panel when he had touched it.

"Think you can fly it?" McKay asked. He wouldn't try himself, being opposed to flying, or as his Texan cousin twice removed would say, '_There ain't no good that can come from city folk and their fancy flying machines' _or something to that effect anyway.

"Why don't we find out?' John sat down in the seat and the ship immediately reacted to him. All the light's turned on and the HUD sprang to life.

McKay's face lit up, maybe just maybe, these space ships could turn into a flying loving man. "Okay, um try to make it go into the air."

The ship lifted slightly and thrummed with life.

McKay and Sheppard shared a look, "Cool." They both whispered.

"Okay…ummmm…try something else." McKay told Sheppard and suddenly the ship went forward.

Weir walked in and Rodney reached for a button to speak to her but John stopped him and smirked slightly.

Weir seemed to be looking around as if trying to find them.

"S-she can't see us can she?" Rodney said amazed. _This is so cool._ He thought.

Suddenly Elizabeth jumped and Rodney could only assume that John had put down the cloak.

"You said you wanted tactical advantage." John said to her.

Weir smiled broadly, "Alright, so you can fly that thing. It doesn't mean you can pull off a rescue."

Sheppard frowned slightly, "You brought me here for this."

Weir looked at McKay and Sheppard before saying, " Okay, but if it looks like you are even in the slightest bit of danger I want you to retreat straight away." She turned as if walking away and then said, "But you Rodney, are not going on the mission."

McKay groaned but did not argue with her, there would be other chances. The instinct to go rescue his people was large, but easily quelled.

Weir left and Sheppard turned to Rodney and said, "PuddleJumper."

McKay easily understood what he was talking about and smiled, "Definitely."

McKay ran back to the control room and started putting together a team of men that he knew he could trust. Ford was a given, but he had to put more thought into the others.

Before he knew it they were off and raring to go, well sort of.

"Ready?" Weir asked Radek.

"This technology is too far ahead, we do not know much. Is hard for us to work faster than already are. We could be sending…yes, we are ready."

Sheppard voice came through the microphone, "Flight this is PuddleJumper. We're go for launch."

Weir and Radek looked slightly insulted about the naming of the ship as Rodney reached over for his own microphone, "Flight, you are clear for launch."

The ship came down from the hangar and burst through the gate.

"Be safe." Weir muttered.

McKay turned and grinned at her, "How can they be anything but safe, come on, the have Major Un-Killable on there. Have you read his record?"

Weir grinned, "I suppose, anyway…I'm going to take a look around, tell me of any findings Rodney."

"Okay Elizabeth." McKay replied before running to Radek to ask what he could do.

Radek used in much the same way as he had last time that the team had left, except this time he was to run around the city and check out things and take readings. Radek showed him how to connect the laptop or a pad to the ancient crystals, which he already sort of knew, but Radek's way seemed foolproof and meant that there was no chance of him breaking the crystals.

McKay was sent here, there and everywhere, flicking from scientist to scientist. Any other soldier, who didn't understand physics, would have given up and collapse by now, but McKay thought this was a brilliant way to learn some new information as every scientist he met with taught him something new and or corrected what he did wrong.

When he arrived back in the control room, he was so tired, both mentally and physically but he still had a thirst for more information.

However, when he saw Weir by the gate, looking worried he remembered the team that they had sent out. It had been at least five hours since they had left.

"Elizabeth!" He called out to her while walking down the steps, "The scientists are treating me like a lacky and I'm not insulted one bit, I mean we have some pretty interesting readings from the places we have supplied power to. Maybe you should come and take a look?" He realised that she wasn't even acknowledging what he had said.

"I should never have let them go…" She muttered.

McKay frowned and said, "Well…for what it's worth, you made the right decision. Give them more time."

This time McKay stayed in the control room, learning what he could from Radek who was patient, but distracted by other scientist's. Suddenly the gate sprang to life.

"Off world activation!" Peter called out.

"Put up the shield!" Weir called.

Everyone sprang into action. Running to their station's military included. Rodney went and stood next to Weir.

"Do we have an identification code?" Weir shouted.

One of the scientist's replied, "Nothing yet."

They waited anxiously.

"Lieutenant Ford's IDC."

"Let them in!" Was McKay's immediate reply.

Just a few more seconds.

The Puddle Jumper flew in and went to an immediate halt.

"Shield up again now!" Weir ordered.

Everyone stood by amazed while McKay smiled. He knew that Sheppard would be able to do it.

McKay decided to miss the briefing, he would get relayed all the details in their exaggerated forms by Ford later. Instead he went and got Carson.

"Come on, Beckett. You've been holed up in the lab all day. You do know there is a party downstairs right?"

"But Rodney, I can't, I need to do this." Carson begged.

Rodney was relentless; he dragged him away and down to the meeting. They walked to the table and McKay picked up a kebab.

He turned around to see Carson watching an interaction between Teyla and Sheppard.

"How come I never make friends like that?" Carson asked.

"Maybe you need to get out more." McKay said around his food.

"We're in another galaxy…how much more out can you get?" Carson moaned.

McKay shrugged, more focused on his kebab, it tasted suspiciously like lemon. His lips weren't tingling so he assumed not. But he put the kebab down to be on the safe side.

"Hey, Carson, I'm feeling so tired right now. I'm going to go hit the sack."

Carson nodded but continued to watch Weir and Sheppard speak.

McKay search through the crates, found a bedroll and a sleeping bag. He went off in search of somewhere to sleep and found a room with what looked like a suspiciously like a desk and a bed, but he wasn't going to test his luck anymore.

He set up his makeshift bed and lay down. "This is going to kill my back in the morning." He muttered to himself, but wasn't really that fussed because he had suffered worse.

McKay closed his eyes and then he was out like a light.

* * *

><p><strong>(Sorry about the whole Carson's writing doesn't look Scottish…I forgot how to do that properly and so yeah…just imaging Carson is saying it xD )<strong>

**Now that the first two episodes are over and done with I can get into some proper plot diversions. Just need to make the first two episodes totally canon, otherwise it really wouldn't have worked. I might give you another chapter sooner (maybe by Thursday or Friday [but I am still ill so no promises]) as a sorry present for not updating. Also, I think I made McKay a lot younger than he actually was in Rising…it was necessary for this fic…sorry. **

**ALSO, I'm thinking of giving this a slash between Ford/McKay or John/McKay or you know I could make it Teyla/McKay or Weir/McKay or Carson/McKay or Katie/McKay or you know…no pairing. It's up to you guys I guess... (Any other pairings you like suggest them)**

**On another note, I am looking for a beta, as this is one of my better stories and I think it deserves one, but preferably one that knows what to do and can tell me how everything works as this will be my first beta'd story.**

**I was going to say that I think I have made McKay to smart right now :/ ah well, he's not complete Rodney smart yet but with some help from Radek he'll be going places xD**

**Anyway, review with your views and opinions. I love constructive criticism.**

**xXxrouxXx**


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